Medabots Anatomy 101
by mad-man
Summary: this is going to be a realisticto an extent breakdown of medabots and their internal systems. This is based on my perceptions of what I have seen both in the show and my knowledge of robots, not all of these ideas are from the show. an update!
1. Default Chapter

Medabots Anatomy 101… no you want 'Medabots Fun and Puns' next floor up second door on the left. HEY YOU Put the cake back or sit down…

All joking aside this is going to be a realistic(to an extent) breakdown of medabots and their internal systems. This is based on my perceptions of what I have seen (both in the show and my knowledge of robots), not all of these ideas are from the show. You don't have to follow this for your fics, but feel free to use any idea you find here. Some ideas I may have barrowed or adapted from other authors fics. Sorry for not asking, I forgot where I read some of the ideas. I will remove or give credit upon request of the author.

if you have any ideas review this and I will put them in. ok enough talk lets get started.

Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 1 of (???) Nervous System

The nervous system of a medabot is composed of microscopic wires and circuits. These wires and circuits are embedded and etched into tinpits and medaparts. Although one of these wires can not carry a sizable electrical impulse, sets of them working together can. This multiple paths allows for a redundancy far superior to a single wire.

These micro-wires are throughout the entire tinpit, medaparts tie their own micro wires into the tinpit's. Medaparts have these micro-wires as well but their placement and functions are dependent of the type of parts.

everywhere two or more micro-wires cross there is a switch similar to a compound transistor. This allows for pathways to be switched, to send impulses along different routs or even directions. This switch is normally automatic but can be changed by the medabot for faster reactions. It can also be used to bypass continuing errors or moderate damage.

All these micro-wires and compound transistors form a network throughout the tinpit and medaparts. This network is there to carry information to and from various types of sensors back to the medal and central bus-board. It also carries command signals to equipment and devices.

The network has enough power to run most sensors and carry data impulses. It doesn't carry enough to power for motor control or devices or weapons. To overcome this problem a second network, a larger stronger network that is on visual scale, is built to carry power directly to these devices and anywhere it is needed. This power network is not as redundant as the impulse network because its greater size requires more room for every pathway.

The power network is monitored by the impulse network but is not entirely automated. The medabot can send more power to anywhere it is needed as long as his/her/it's critical systems have above their minimum required power. Additional power can not safely exceed the Max power levels of the component it is being sent to.

There are numerous sensors in a medabot, this lesson will only cover the basic sensors. Thermal sensors detect heat and cold, registering pain when above or below the preset tolerances. Thermal sensors also come in an internal version for moderating heat generation or over cooling.

Pressure/touch sensors are for identifying when the medabot is touching something and to a lesser extent consistency and texture. Pressure/touch sensors are also used to determine how hard the medabot is pressing against something or vise versa. Grappling medabots will often have a much more sensitive set of these sensors. Diving and flying medabots use a altered sensor in place of an altimeter or dive gage.

Pain/damage sensors are a wide area sensor that uses the impulse network to test for damage and send a pain message back to the medal and main bus board. This is not a device despite its size and complexity. It runs by pinging its local area and listing non-responses as damage and after confirming with the next inline sensor sends the pain signal. !Warning! tampering with these sensors without acute knowledge can result in serous errors. The two worst errors are constant searing pain or total loss of pain and/or damage reports.

Environmental sensors are a mater of debate because they are not actually a sensor. They are a small device that processes all the signals from sensors to determine if the environment is safe or hostile. This device includes an gaseous meter that is used to determine if special weapons can be used safely or even at all.

Audio sensors are larger than all other sensors except for visual or full spectrum sensors. Audio sensors require additional power from the power network but they don't have any backup circuits because of this they are slightly more susceptible to damage. The standard settings allow for volume and frequency detection above that of humans.

Visual/ full spectrum sensors or optics as they are often called, detect light in the visual spectrum or in some designs extend out to include infrared and ultraviolet. Visors are the same as optics except they often have advance features exceeding that of optics. Visors have a more restricted range of tracking than optics. Visual sensors have dozens of redundant layers in both the impulse network and the power network. The top layers of these sensors are made of armored and hardened glass and plastics. All of these precaution make damaging them difficult but not imposable.

Sensors run on the impulse network and that network carries commands and power. The impulse network is an amazing feat of engineering. But it by itself it is practically useless. At the center of this extensive network is the main bus-board. The main bus-board is the center of the network it is where the medal is inserted.

The main bus-board is the like the motherboard of a computer. It is in charge of filtering and refining the numerous impulses and interpreting them for the medal. This bus-board has sockets for sub-boards or part required chips and cards. The main bus-board has a limited temporary memory buffer, this is a medabots short term memory.

The medal is what holds everything about the medabot. The medal is an unlimited source of memory storage and processing power. It contains all information about a medabot. All their memories, skills and assimilated personality traits. Some clam this is where a medabots 'sprit' is, I wont voice my opinion here. To all scientific extents a medabot is nothing more than an adaptive inexplicable IA that takes personality traits from its environment.

It is true that a medal is a source power for the medabot but it isn't the only source of power. Every tenpit has a standard power cell. This power cell is self recharging but can be externally charged if needed. When a medabot enters sleep mode its recharge rate increases and power consumption decreases. This is also when the short term memories are transferred into hard memory inside the medal.

This covers basics of the nervous system. If you wish a detailed explanation of any topic in this lesson please review.

The next lesson will cover the skeletal and structural system. I'm not sure when it will be up, it depends on how many reviews I get. This lesson was longer than I thought.

Later the, MAD-MAN


	2. lesson 2

Welcome to Medabots Anatomy 101… no I don't have a teachers permit… what do you mean? I don't charge cash for the lesions… those are voluntary donations, I swear…

Its always good to start with a little humor, don't you agree?

Thanks to all who reviewed, BOTH of you.

All ideas (with two major exceptions and a few minor) are realistic in that they will work in the real world. however I should point out that while this may seam detailed it is not. Some ideas have been left out or left unclear. This is because they are an original idea that is unheard of or unused in robotics but are or could be better than anything similar. I will share these ideas but only too people who show interest. And for clarification one of those Major exception is the medal, I am still thinking my why around all its little details. The medal will probably take me a while to figure out, I do plain to post something about the medal. The other is a valid theory but a little past the current technology level of today's scientists.

if you have any ideas review this and I will put them in. ok enough talk lets get started.

Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 2 of (???) Skeletal and Structural System and epidermis

The skeleton, or Tinpit, is the center of a medabots physical structure. Older modals where made of high grade aluminum and restructured steel. Newer Tinpits are often made of light composite (layers of woven metals and carbon fibers) of steel and/or titanium.

A tinpit is called the structure of a medabot but it is not what supports the medabots weight, the tinpit is what the medaparts attach to. The tinpit is like the joints of the skeleton, allowing human like flexibility(for the standard human configuration). The medaparts often support the weight of the medabot.

The tinpit is made of removable, rotate able and collapsible sections. This allows for the tinpit to be reshaped to fit-in/bend-strangely or allow medaparts to have any shape or motion imposable to human forms. In truth the only part of the tinpit that is required by every medabot(exceptions do exist) is the chest or rib areas and these can be reshaped in several ways.

The hands of the tinpit are one of the most useful and adaptive tools available to the medabot. Made of a locked supper strong near solid structure they are the sturdiest part of the tinpit, often able to take insane punishment. The hands are too small to be manipulated by motors and still have any strength. They are run by a linked set of motors in the wrist that pull small cables that run into the fingers. Two cables run to the last digit of the finger. In every digit there is an electric clamp that locks the cables. the first cable pulls the fingers closed, the second pulls them open. The clams can be engaged on the first cable so that a joint lower than it can bend while above it stays strait. The clams on the second work in reverse. (this is an untested idea. I am building a proto-type now.)

The tinpit contain many vital components of the medabot. Important above all is the main bus-board, the standard energy cell and the SLAF system(check ending statements). The tinpit is also where many of the main servos and joint motors are found, these are usually switched or replaced for stronger and/or faster ones. the older the type of medaparts the more likely they are to use the standard servos like the ones in the tinpit. (a servo is a motor with power regulators and a small transmission-box allowing for one motor to go between several different levels of RPMsrotations per minute. This means the same motor can lift heavy weights or move quickly and anywhere between.) It should also be noted that many medafighters upgrade their medabots servos without thinking that more speed and strength will take time for the medabot to adapt to.

The medaparts supply the physical form and structure of the medabot as well as hold within them any additional servos, equipment, weapons. The structure of medaparts is so varied that to discuss them all would be a document in itself. So today we will cover two basic structures, that of the KWG mark1 and KBT mark1. (are you fans happy?)

The KWG parts are for grappling or melee fighting and have a much stronger thicker structure than a shooting medabot would. The servos are designed to sacrifice strength for speed and the parts are more stream lined than most. This however doesn't mean that the KWG is weak, rather it means that it uses speed to build up momentum and strike resulting in damage past its strength.

The legs are slimmer and given a wider angle of bend at the joints. This is for more agility and speed. It also means that the joints are more susceptible to damage than those of a shooting type. The arms are slim at the shoulder and upper arm for dexterity with long counter weights to counter the enlarged forearms.

The forearms are enlarged and protrude slightly over the hands despite appearances the forearms are not solid. The forearms are full of curved ribs and hard angles, surrounded by a semi-form of hard springs. This is a multi-layer of semi-hard foam rubber filled with pockets of soft silicone braced at stress points with stiff springs, it dampens damage from hard and heavy impacts (an idea of mine, tailored from a fictional type of soft armor).

The body and head contain the most vital components of the medabot and are built with tripled interwoven layers of structuring making them more difficult to damage than the rest of the medaparts. The body contains a sophisticated gyro-ball that is responsible for equilibrium and balance. The head contains the audio sensors, visual sensors and vocal processor.

The KBT is similar in many ways to the KWG but different in many others. The KBT is a shooting type and relies of its ability to take heavy damage and deal out precision hits and mass damage. Its entire body is sharp angles and bends to deflect projectiles.

The KBT is an even balance of speed and strength its joint are protected by being close to or partially under the edges of strong armor. The legs are thick and provide sure footing or a solid stance when firing. The head and body are like the KWG in that they are protect the most vital parts of the medabot. The difference is that while the KWG is strong against impacts and crushing blows because of its highly reinforced frame. the KBT is weaker from these attacks because it has minimal reinforcement. The KBT has thicker armor to protect against shooting or slicing attacks while the KWG is more susceptible to these attacks because it has minimal armor. Also the KBT has a targeting computer behind is visual sensors that ties in with its special weapon.

The KBT arms are square and blocky but have a surprising range of motion again its strength and speed is closely balanced so its dexterity is about average. On the shoulders are the ammo feeds/counter balances, these are lightly armored only so that their weight is approximate to the forearms. The forearms are actually very simple except for the weapons(later lesson). The arm forearm is an armored case surrounding a thin frame and the weapons systems. The weapons systems are braced with a thin layer of semi-form-hard-springs to help protect the weapons from mild jolts.

Finally today we will cover the epidermis of the medabot (this is to short for a chapter itself).

All medabots have some form of armor that acts as their skin in some places it is only a thin layer of metal (aluminum, steel, titanium, or whatever. im not sure). In other places it is thick slabs of tempered alloys almost several inches thick. The fact is that the more vital the area the more armor will be covering it compared to a non-vital area. Some medabots have what appears to be material, in some cases this is what it is. In others it is merely a weave of flexible fibers similar to ancient chain mail but on a much finer scale. Armor can be removed or replaced (by those competent in metal work) some medabots prefer stronger armor even if it slows them down. While others would risk severe damage from a small blow if it meant more speed and agility.

There you go another lesson learned… where are your notes? This is going to be tested, im kidding… seriously im kidding.

SLAF system- this is from the game more than the show(I don't remember what it stands for). It is the central regulator of all the nano sized machines in a medabot.

Next lesson is the curricular system, respiratory system and immune system.

Corona89 noted that I know a bit about robotics, this is true but not in the same sense as the guy who builds stuff for NASA. I like robots, correction im obsessed with robots.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!


	3. lesson3

Hello again class. Today we will have a pop quiz… first question what color is your liver… ok I'm kidding again. I just couldn't think of a good joke.

Alright if you are ready we will start immediately.

Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 3 of (???). Curricular System, Respiratory System and Immune System

The circulatory system is much like a humans except it carries oil instead of blood. It is a misconception that the oil a medabot uses is the same as the oil that you would use in your car. The oil is actually a mixture of lubricating oil, hydraulic fluid, coolant, and other materials. Some medabots need specially mixed oils because their parts require a different mixture of these fluids. And many medabots that live in colder climates mix antifreeze in their oil so that they won't have to worry as much about system freezes.

The oil when ingested by the medabot travels down from their hidden intake valve (often hidden behind the face plate) to a small reservoir that can hold between a pint or three. Most medbots like or need a high oil level while others prefer to have hardly any in their systems. The reason for this is that while more oil increases performance of many types of parts it will also slow the medabot down. This reduction of speed is often unnoticed by humans. The reason for the loss of speed is that the oil is a liquid and liquids resist sudden changes in speed or direction.

But it is also not a good idea for a medabot to run on too little oil. If a medabot has too little oil it will suffer from over heating and could have trouble repairing damage. A medabot should never run without oil. They can function without oil but even moving will case severe strain to joints and servos. Also as the medabots SLAF system is spread throughout the body in the oil, the medabots healing and repair properties drop to almost nothing.

The circulatory system is not built into the tin pet; it is built into parts and is one of the few things standard to many parts. The oil starts in the oil reservoir. It is pumped out of the reservoir by a small motor into a large vein. The vain spits into two (three or four in newer models) and spirals trough the body. From there the veins split off and enter the extremities of the body, arms legs, head, or any others.

Where ever the parts could be changed (like switching an arm) the arties come into a valve before and after the junction between parts. The oil travels out into the arm(for example) all the way until the end before turning back. The pipes the oil travels is now like human arteries traveling back to the oil reservoir.

Where ever the veins or artery passes near a servo or joint the pipe changes. While anywhere else the pipe is thin but strong, here the pipe becomes soft and pliable and made like a wet membrane. This membrane allows oil to seep from the pipes and lubricate the servo or joint. These membranes are far from being strong but that isn't an issue for the medabot. With humans our blood pumps at an amazing speed and has a remarkable force. A medabot however only pumps their oil at a leisurely pace and with only enough force to ensure flow.

Take a breather class. Breath in, and out. Now think of a medabot, they do not require oxygen to live and only a few need it for special attacks (the pyro breath on phoenix needs air to function). But this doesn't mean a medabot doesn't need to breathe. Most medabots have a small bellows or fan in their chest cavity that pulls air in from the face plate or neck (many medabot types often just pull air in from gaps in their armor).

The purpose of breathing for a medabot is to regulate weapons and processor temperature. The respiratory system is strikingly simple. The fan pulls air from outside the medabot, forces it across the device that needs cooling(usually just the main bus board and processors) and then the fan reverses and pulls the air back out. All medabots have their systems(everything, and I mean everything) insulated against water but only a diving medabot can properly use water instead of air.

The immune system. Finally we come to a topic of much interest to many people, the SLAF system. (fictional alert, this is not real and is based on scientific theory and research. current technology cannot reproduce this system at this time)(and I still don't remember what S.L.A.F. stand for…). The SLAF system is one of the most ingenious devices within medabots. The device itself is small and tied directly into both the oil reservoir and the power network. The device's only purpose is to create nanos, microscopic sized machines that can repair or maintain the medabots systems.

It should be noted that the SLAF system makes two kinds of nanos. The first is by far the most vital, it is little more than a preprogrammed self mobile piece of carbon(taken from oils within the reservoir). This type of nano is sent out into the circulatory system where it floats throughout the body until it receives a signal. The signal is emitted by damaged parts or sensors; the signal is a low energy field the nanos are attracted to. Upon reaching a transmitting signal the nano will begin crawling along the damaged area until it recognizes where repairs are needed. After several thousand(depending on the damage) of nanos have reached the damage they use their own carbon bodies to fill and repair any physical damage. These nanos deal with damage to armor, tin pet, joints, and anywhere that electrical systems aren't directly related.

The other kind of nano is made of both carbon and traces of iron found in the medabot's oil(in higher grade oils they use stronger more viable metals). These nanos have a limited intellect, as well as a limited lifespan(anywhere from a day to a week). These nanos are in charge of repairing or maintaining electrical systems and creating high tech weapon parts(like the detonators in KBT missiles). These nanos work in much the same way as the carbon nanos, they travel trough the medabot until receiving a repair signal. After receiving the signal they travel to the damaged area and begin repairs. These nanos do use their bodies for repair work but only if they cannot find another local source of materials. If the damage is near to the circulatory system they will carry materials from the oils. Older versions of this nano practiced cannibalism; they would tear materials from less vital systems to repair the damaged system. This caused problems because then there would twice as much that needed to be repaired. This version can be replaced with a software modifier.

Both of these nanos do not work alone; often the smarter metal nanos will guide the carbon nanos. Because of the close proximity of both physical matter and electrical devices found in medabots both nanos work together to repair many things. 'Carbons' will help carry materials for 'Metals', and 'Metals' will guide repairs for 'Carbons' to insure they are correctly and smoothly done. Also for weapons that require materials (real bullets, missiles, ect…) they both follow a blueprint provided by the weapon to create them together. Newer program nano versions have begun to appear on the market. These nano mods improve intelligence for the nanos, increasing performance and ability. Warning! Do not use untested or mislabeled nano mods. Do not use nano mods if you do not now where they came from. Using an untested/unknown nano mod could be dangerous.

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ok class what did we learn today?

Dose anybody remember what S.L.A.F. stands for in the medabot game?

Go review! NOW!!!!

And DARK1. I would like to discuss that with you. Send me an email later.


	4. lesson4

Yes little Reaver that's good. Now here is a peace of candy sit in the corner and put this on your head. Hands Iron Reaver a dunce hat…

Sorry Reaver I couldn't think of a good joke but then I saw your review and I had to do it. Your right though I am not a good teacher. I treat people like idiots or use simpler terms without realizing it. This is because of how my teachers taught me. They thought because I had (HAD is the key term) a horrible slur in my speech that I was an idiot. The funny thing is I was always at a reading level twice as high as my grade. You know maybe I should call those teachers and use some of my vast vocabulary to insult them.

Ok that was some info about me I shouldn't have bothered you with. Forget it and focus on the lesson. Oh and before I forget, I can't program anything better than DOS! So if I make a mistake about programming call me on it and Please tell me what it should be.

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Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 4 of (???) The Mind

The medal of a medabot is the center of its entire being. Every thought, every action every memory and every thing about a medabot is stored there, run from there, or passes through the medal.

The medal is, at its most basic level, an incredible processor. But it isn't one large multiple purpose processor, it is divided in several processors that work independent of each other on various tasks with a master processor governing all of them. These separate processors are scattered throughout the golden area of the medal.

The first processor we will cover is the one that deals with sensors. This processor is near the bottom of the medal (the top or bottom is determined by the image on the medal.) this processor is reasonable for sorting the multitude of impulses from the impulse network into a single sensor log every tenth of a second and send this to the main bus board where it is routed back to the master processor for interpretation in the gilding program.

The second processor is the command processor, located to the right of the medal and is arguably the second largest processor. This processor is tied directly into the master processor and the gilding program. This processor is what sends out the function commands that make the equipment run and specify exactly what it is to do.

The third processor is the learning and interpretation processor, located near the top right of the medal. This medal takes the input from visual and audio sensors (and certain devices that provide other forms of these senses) and feeds the data into an interpretation program that decodes the data into recognizable sensations (sound or images). If the medabot has seen or experienced something before it will remember it if not the sensation is added to a memory log.

This interpretation program is tied into the long and short-term memory. It also has an analysis algorithm that compares sensations for similarities and differences. This is to provide identification between two objects that share similarities (humans, objects, and other medabots). I will note here briefly that a medabot's long-term memory is linear; I will cover this later in the lesson.

The interpretation program does not deal with touch or pain or temperature sensations these sensations are added to the long-term memory but are often irrelevant. The reason for this is that every kind of medapart has different levels of sensitivity in these senses, so if the medal is moved to another set of parts, or even just a change of a single part, the memory would be misleading. Vision and audio sensors have an adaptive storage log that measures how far above (or below) standard quality that the memory was recorded at.

The forth processor is the fighting processor, located at the top left of the medal. This processor is not very large but is built exactly to fit its purpose so it can run at incredible speeds. Since every type of medal is made for different skills the fighting processors are unique to every type.

When entering battle mode the learning/interpretation processor slows down to allow for rerouting of all possible power to the fighting processor. The fighting processor is tied into a fighting comprehension data module within the memories of the medabot. Every medal has basic skills (skills are dependent on the type of medal) preprogrammed into the memory of the medabot, these skills grow as the medabot learns and trains. A medabot has trouble learning in battle mode; often the medabot won't learn anything from that battle until it is over. However medabots with enough skill can switch between battle and learning modes while in battle and thus learn as they fight.

A medabot doesn't need to learn from a battle as it is happening; in fact many medabots would confuse themselves if they tried. For this reason many medafighters train their medabots before entering battles, this way the medabot has more skills at the ready. Training is a good way for a medabot to refine its skills without actual combat. Because the medabot can't forget how to perform a learned skill (without medal damage or outside influence) their skill can only increase.

Commands are a great influence to a medabot in battle. If the medafighter didn't issue any commands the medabot would follow its programming 'instinct'. The medabot's instinct would be to follow a pattern of attacks or actions that resulted in victory against a similar foe. If the medabot has plenty of experience this would matter little because the program would have grown to the point that it calculated every action the foe made and change its plan of attack.

The fifth processor is the personality processor; this processor is located to the left of the medal. This processor is what decides what kind of personality the medabot will have. This is done at first by having a baseline of personality constructs in the medal. Medals made by the Medabot Corporation have fewer selections than ancient medals.

These personality traits range across a short spectrum when compared with humans but these are only the base foundations of the medabot's personality. After being first activated the medabot has nothing in the way of personality. During a period of time (this could be anywhere from a few seconds to a few days) the medabot scans its medafighter (the way they act the way they talk, ect) and narrows its selection down to any personality that should be compatible with the medafighter. From there the selection is almost random because anything in the environment could affect the selection.

For example if the medafighter was brash and had an over abundance of ego his medabot could chose from a personality that adored him or one that had an even bigger ego and a hot temper. Lets say the medabot was shown disrespect and then immediately entered a battle, chances are that the medabot would then choose the second choice (remind you of episode 1?)

From the initial baseline personality the medabot grows by absorbing personality traits from it environment, much like humans. Needless to say these possibilities are as vast as they would be to young humans and are likely never to be mapped out by anyone who would care and if they were they would be useless in only a few months.

The final processor is the master processor that governess all the other processors, located directly around the gem of the medal. This master processor works for the master intelligence program that governs over all other programs. The program takes all the data information from the meda-parts and medal and uses them all together within a self-observing-graphical-user-interface (SOGUI). The program works its own commands to manipulate its own GUI.

The SOGUI is the first success at artificial intelligence. The GUI is presented as if to a user but the GUI acts and reacts to situations that are chosen by the GUI's knowledge. Countless programs and algorithms run inside the SOGUI while it observes the results and changes the input and then acts on the commands given to it. All of the SOGUI runs under the consciousness of the medabot. To the medabot it sees and hears and feels whatever is around it or happening. The medabot isn't aware of the programs or algorithm that allows it to think and choose its own decisions, it just knows it can.

The only part of the SOGUI the medabot interacts with on a conscious level is the windows it summons. Every window serves a purpose or function for the SOGUI. The first window is the status window; often overlaid over the medabots vision or above it this provides health and energy bars or audio warnings of damage or errors.

The next window is the program screen where new programs can be installed or updated. This window is rarely used because of the low selection of new programs on the market. Warning! Do not use programs that where not made expressly for your medal or medaparts. Do not use untested programs or upgrades as they could cause severe damage to you medabot or medal.

The next window is the diagnostics and repair window. This window is where detailed repairs can be issued and rerouting of command lines chosen. As long as the medabot is still able to function at thirty percent of its capabilities it can repair any damage done to its parts or medal. The time that the repairs take is dependent on how much and how severe the damage is, available recourses, and how much capability the medabot still retains in both processing and physical ability.

Finally we come to or final topic for this lesson, memory. As I mentioned before a medabot's memory is linear meaning that when it's activated is placed before its tenth robattle. However its memory is 'bridged' meaning whenever it thinks back to an event in its memory a tag is placed that links back to that earlier memory. So the more a medabot thinks of an event the more it is likely to recall it. The less a medabot thinks of something the less tags are placed on the memory the more likely the medabot will forget.

When searching its memory the medabot will unconsciously check the most recent tags in its memory. If the tags don't match what it is searching for they will begin at the most recent memory and work back until coming upon the memory or until they give up the search.

Short-term memories are placed in a buffer on the main bus board near the medal, these memories are transferred into the medal before ejection or recharge mode or every set of designated time (most medabots have the transfer set for every few hours). These memories are not linear because they are often shuffled around as the medabot lives them. The short-term memories are given a time tag for when it occurred so that it can be put in the proper order in the long-term memory upon transfer.

Short term memories have no 'bridge' tags and because of this planning to remember something that happened a few moment ago and then not thinking of it again for a while could lead to it being forgotten easily.

Long-term memory is stored inside the gem of the medal along with a fleck of uranium for power. The uranium is the power source of the medal, primarily for keeping the memories alive but also for powering the base level of the medabot's impulse network. Rumors say that rare medals use something other than uranium but these rumors have never been proven or disproved by science.

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Ok class how are you feeling about his lesson?

I didn't really like it I used far too much guess work but like I say programming is not my best field. On the physical aspect of it, it looks fairly sound. At least it does to me. I have limited experience with processors but the principle behind this should work, if I described it properly.

The next lessons are going to be about head medaparts, devices within them and the effects they have.

Say thanks to my proof reader- Corona89


	5. lesson 5

Joke… joke… joke… nope, no joke.

I don't own medabots.

So many people wanted legs and I was going to legs but every time I start to think of it I get board out of my mind and drift off to something else. So instead I will do random meda-weapions that I like. Ill try to add a section at the end about legs but no promises.

All types listed are from the Medabot Navi game for GBA, unfortunately it is only available in Japanese that I have found. Email me if you want more details on particular types or images of the bots in question. I try to have at least one type listed that should be recognized from the show in each listing.

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Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 5 of (?) weapons systems. Bash or Bop?

We all know about the ever classic bashing from back before time with clubs and sticks and stones. Lets see what is different from a wooden club or a rock and a fancy rivet studded block of steel.

Now a plain old wooden club dose good damage to soft flesh and fragile bone with limited wear and tear. However against hardened metals and reinforced plastics that rate of wear jumps while damage drops, making wooden clubs an ineffective weapon.

So lets make the club a hunk of steel, nothing fancy because we will deal with the outside covering of the club and arm after the club is ready, just a long protruding slightly rounded chunk of metal attached to the medabots arm. Now you have an effective tool for smashing another medabots armor and whatever is underneath. But wait a moment, something is wrong every time your medabot hits its opponent it takes damage to its own arm, Why?

Part of the answer is that your medabot isn't holding the club, it is part of him and has no place for the impact to dampen out. Lets find another example, a human with a club. A man swinging a club with hit whatever he is after and a majority of the impact will enter the target, however a part of that impact radiates back up the club. There are two kinds of clubbing involved in medabots, fisting and actual clubbing. Lets cover the fisting side first.

A human hand, clenching a rock or even a chunk of metal, is made of soft flesh around a rather louse shifting construction of bone, so is the arm to a lesser extent, this is able to dampen the impact because it lacks rigidity. The man will still feel the impact and it may even sting his hand but because of how a human hand is he won't be injured.

So we need to mount your medabots club so the shock of impact would be dampened enough to prevent injury but leave the arm firm enough to cause damage. The simplest and least effective method would be to insolate a medabots arm, particularly inside around the mountings holding the club, with a dampening agent of some kind. Semi hard silicates, foam rubber, even cotton or some other soft porous substance.

This method isn't the best, any direct hits with the club still send all that force right back into the arm and against the framing of the medabot while only dampening the vibrations that could harm components. This method is good for medabots that have very few sensitive components in their parts and strong frames able to absorb the impacts unharmed. Medabots like this are the, GMN-01NH, OCT-04NF, BFL-04BH, and RCD-01NF. To name a few.

The next method just adds to the simple one we just covered. Instead of mounting the club directly to the frame an intermediate is added. Rubber mounts or short spring coils, some have argued that a sealed hydraulic press with a minimal fluid level works as well but I will with hold judgment until I have seen it work. These all absorb the force of the impact and reduce it before it reaches the frame by slowing the force applied and slowly pressing back.

There is still a good deal of shock and impact involved but it is no longer putting strain on the frame and combined with the previous method can now be used in medaparts with slightly more sensitive structures and components. Such as WMS-01NF, SKT-01NF, SOT-11NF, and the left arm of nearly any non-transforming KWG type medabot.

So far we have covered the simpler methods, now lets try the more complex one. The club part of the medabot is just a large block of whatever that is mounted by some fashion to the medabots arm under the armor, often extending externally in some fashion. In the simpler methods the club was still mounted indirectly to the arm, this is fine for medabots with decent structures but what about those strange medabots that look so frail?

This is because the club, or simply a hefty but small weight, isn't attached directly to the medabots frame. Rather it is attached to a diver, a form of kinetic punch of you will. A device is installed in the medabots arm that allows the metal weight to move forward and back on its own or by being driven rapidly back and forth in some manor.

How dose this cause any harm to whoever is hit? Well let's look at it this way. Find a ball roll it along the ground. As hard as you push it is as fast as it moves, however if you took that same ball and placed it inside a slightly larger box and promptly hurled the box at a wall you would hear two impacts very close together. That is how a kinetic punch works.

Lets work off that ball and box again, however this time the ball is five pounds of iron and the box is a reinforced tube with very thick caps on the ends. The medabot would pull back to strike, the ball is at the back of the cylinder now, and rears forward to hit, forward momentum presses the ball back still, the fist hits and causes a bit of damage with its own weight, the ball uses the momentum it had gathered from the arms movement to continue moving after the arm stops and reaches the forward cap where it impacts, sending another impact out past the fist and into what had been initially hit. This doubles the impact and often can cause greater damage than any single impact with the same force.

I know what you're thinking, that such a method would put more stress on a frame. Your right. Those medabots at look so frail and cause such impressive damage is not that frail. They use a smaller tighter framework that is reinforced to insane proportions. Instead of having a simple triple cross ribbed framing they would have a triangulated micro rib framing used to make a quadruple cross ribbed framing. This multiple layered framing increases structural integrity greatly but comes at several costs.

First is production and maintenance. This form of structuring is extremely hard to produce without flaws, flaws that would compromise greater areas of the structure than the same flaw in a simpler type of frame, and any minuscule damage could be compounded if not readily repaired. Second is cost, all that work in production and then latter maintenance means more expended costs on repairs, even for those who are capable of such work themselves.

Back to the kinetic punch. Fiction is a problem for the kinetic punch, too much rubbing inside the driver and the weight inside losses speed before it is able to deliver its needed impact. To this reason most driving chambers are vacuumed sealed, not all however, and made as smooth as nanoly possible. Other lubrication methods are the ever-classic oils and using a 'fluid' weight.

A fluid weight is a joke in my opinion and doesn't sound as if it would work, but I will list it as I have heard so many people swear by it. the sealed driving chamber is filled nearly full with any form of liquid, heavier liquids are supposedly better, while the weight is restricted in the front part of the chamber or removed entirely. All the liquid acts in the same fashion as the weight, dawn back, swung forward and then slams ahead at the sudden stop. I have never tired this method and have not seen it used but far to many people have told me it works, or would work, for me to not mention it. the only thing I can see is that the driving chamber is now heavier and causes more damage in the initial impact.

Lets move on to the other kinetic punches, shall we? We have coved the original KP now let me tell you about the newer ones. First there is the gas modal, this is the first KP to use an unsealed driving chamber. Also the weight is no longer a ball that moved freely, rather it is a cylinder with flat, slightly concave ends that is held in the back position by a weak magnet, either electrical or more archaic artificial loadstone, the end caps of the drive chamber are shaped to fit into the concaved ends of the weight with a slight hallow for the gas valves.

The Gas KP fires in much the way of any BB or paintball gun, using a burst of compressed gas to force an object away at high speeds. The concave end of the weight is shaped to rest soundly against the rear end cap of the driving chamber, upon firing the gas is forced out of the firing chamber located just behind and against the cylinder, forcing the weight forward as the gas expands. The cylinder strikes the forward end cap and provided its impact force as the gas is vented out of holes placed towards the front of the drive chamber. The hole are placed so that they will not vent the gas until after the cylinder has passed, often being placed just back of where the weights rear ends is when against the front cap.

To return to a pre strike positions the cap at the front fires another, weaker burst of gas. The gas vents rapidly because the positions of the vent holes are closer to the front cap and means a lower speed of travel for the cylinder. this combined with the slight rubber coating on the back cap reduces the force of the reverse impact.

The gas chambers, pumps and any triggering methods are often storied in the upper arm or shoulders and ran by hoses to the drive chamber. The gas used is dependant on how many times a KP can be used, after the gas is expended the medabot with be reduced to using a normal punch. Environmental air, whatever is around, is the preferred chouse because then the medabot can activate a small pump to restore its ammunition. However this means you might be introducing minute obstructions into the drive chamber. Pollens, dust partials, any chemicals or fumes that may be floating in the vicinity. These microscopic particles increase friction over time and mean that a medabot will require frequent disassembly and cleaning of its Gas KP. Professionals often use caned oxygen or CO2 to prevent any such obscurities and reduce the frequency at witch the Gas KP diver needs removed, dismantled and cleaned. Professionals also replace the single double sealed gas tanks with multiple smaller tanks under a light armor layer to prevent loss of all ammunition if damage is sustained at that location.

As you can image this method isn't as good as the free moving KP because it has to be triggered and has a reload period that while short means that only every other hit, depending on how the weapon is configured, will be a KP. Incidentally a Gas KP provides more force than a free moving KP is capable of and is only slightly higher in cost.

The last form of KP is the Mag KP this system is overly expensive for such a limited weapon. The weight is once more a cylinder but now runs on interlocking notches and tracks, made molecularly smooth by nanos, and holds a permanent mid level magnetic charge. Circling the vacuum filled drive chamber are rings of concentric super electro magnets that are densely packed near the rear cap and only marginally less at the front.

This Drive chamber is made of composites and non-magnetic substances so that the full strength of the electro magnets reaches the cylinder. The driving chamber is also much larger, thicker walled, longer and greatly reinforced than any other KP. Several high-powered energy cells are located further up the arms, away from where they can cause interference of be interfered with by the stronger magnetism, to power such an energy hungry system.

Like the Gas KP before it the Mag KP fires its electromagnets as sensors in the medabot trigger it. the first circle of electro magnets activate around the rear cap of the drive chamber and start pushing against the cylinders same polarity charge. The rings fire progressively, forcing the cylinder further up the chamber faster and faster. The multiple rings fire so rapidly at to human perception they would look to have fired at once but in fact fired only after the cylinder started to pass them and remained on until the cylinder left its constrained field of magnetism, witch is incidentally less than 3 inches by means of directional focusing.

The level of electricity and the sudden bursts of rapid movement create large levels of heat in the workings of a Mag KP. For this reason there is a small liquid cooling system interrogated around the power cells and the firing chamber itself with heat venting higher up.

This form of KP is so strong that one hit will critically injure any meadpart it hits. Unfortunate it has its disadvantages, no frame or structure, no armor or even soft padding has been found yet that can house it in a medabot without harming the medabot that uses it. during initial testing of this KP the cylinder was forcefully fired right out of the drive chamber and out of the corresponding layers of structuring and armor. Even at half power a Mag KP will still cause extreme damage, not quite enough to be a one hit KO against a bot with decent armor or structuring, but still damage the medabot it is attached to.

Retrieval of the cylinder, if the arm of the medabot and the drive chamber are still functional is done by reversing the polarity of the electro magnets and slowly drawing the cylinder back to its starting position, this takes less time than a Gas KP but is still more than a free moving KP.

Any medapart capable of using a KP can be installed with a Gas KP and vise-versa. However a Mag KP cannot be installed in any part not explicitly made for a Mag KP because of the powerful magnetic fields and increased size, not to mention the required stability. In retrospect I would imagine that a custom Gas KP or free moving KP could be used to replace a Mag KP. Made larger to fit the space of the Mag KP it would provide more force than a normally sized unit and would mean less damage to the structural body and armor of the part. However a standard sized Gas or free moving KP would not be compatible with a part normally using a Mag KP.

Some Medabots that use either free moving KPs or Gas KPs are, JBT-01NF, BAN-13NF. The only medabot capable of using the Mag KP is the medabot corporations Belzelga. Rumors say that there is a RAM out there with a fully capable Mag KP that doesn't harm itself but I won't put much faith in those rumors, the arms of a black ram are too short.

I believe that covers the three main kinds of fisting clubs but before we move on I should explore how the club works in relation to the armor and external surface of the arm.

We see on many medabots, like the ever-popular KWG that there is a strip of stiffer stronger metal with studs on it. this is not the club itself, rather just the part of the armor meant to convey the striking of the club into the target. Think of it this way, that plate sets in a lose moving setting with the rest of the armor of the arm, however it is only connected firmly with the weight, the main force of the club, that is behind it.

Those rivets are in fact holding that impact plate against the club, this way instead of having to repair the entirety of the club if damaged all that needs fixed is the impact plate. Other impact plates can be concealed as just another part of the armor, but are attached in a similar fashion to the internal part of the club. Certain medabots, those that are simply made to take that brute feedback of shock, have no impact plate. Instead they have multiple layers of armor and metal that are riveted and bolted in place directly to the frame or weight. Such constructions are often able to deliver more force in a swinging motion rather than a punching motion, and are often considered a swinging club rather than a fisting.

It should be noted that while punching arms are meant for punching they don't have to be thrust to work, they can be swung into the strike but often enough it causes less damage than a thrust. And KP fists only direct the force forward, directly into the impact plate and whatever is beyond, firing a Gas or Mag KP without the fist against something is likely to make the medabot unbalance and possibly fall as their own arm instead of the target would stop the force.

On to swinging clubs finally. A swinging club is one that relays on speed more than on the power of the medabot although power will only help. In a swinging club the fashion of anchoring the inner weight ins the same as the first two options as up above, either by making the frame insanely strong to handle the shock and avoiding sensitive equipment, or add some rubber mounts and shock absorbing padding.

However a swinging club arm isn't meant to take the hit to the front, rather it is meant to take it around the outer edges of the front or even the sides of the arm. a club arm needs a counter balance of the shoulder even more than a fisting medabot because the less weight the servos have to forcefully move the more speed than can get on the swing. Also joints in a swinging club arm are stronger, stiffer than a fister or many other kinds of melee attacks. This is because if that joint where to bend accidentally, or break, on impact all the force of the swing would be lost.

A popular medabot part that uses this type of arm is often mistaken for a fister because it has no counterbalance and has used it as a fister and appeared to be quite powerful. The STG's left arm is NOT a fister. The remarkable strength and speed of this medabot with a very well formed body allow it to use a swing club arm as a fister against opponents. If in fact this arm was swung the way intended it is likely any medabot, with an armor over structure rating of 20/ 42 pounds per square inch with a armor grade of 110 over a 302 against impacts or less, would be crushed under its impact. (in other words Metabee could be ok, if lucky, but not in the best form after taking a hit to the head.) Anything weaker than those numbers, not counting other environmental or modification factors, would be heavily damaged and likely ceased function.

* * *

I recently start making an armor/ structure / damage scale for medabots, that is where I got the numbers for the damage capable by Sumiladon's StrawHammer. The list will show up when I have checked my numbers and made sure I'm not forgetting something.

I could be forgetting something but I think that is it. review with any questions comments ideas or problems and I will try to deal with them next time. this chapter hasnt been idea checked yet, so call me on baleint wronghoods.

Class dismissed.


	6. lesson 6

So I have lost what little humor I had, don't know why. I think I used it up in other stuff.

I don't own medabots.

Sorry I didn't get legs done last chapter, they sound so simple in my head. I can waste so much time talking on useless stuff but even after a few years getting used to typing I still cant stand typing what I'm not interested in. It isn't simple, I'm well aware of that, but the basic idea in my head is so incredibly asinine that it gets shoved aside by something like the freeloader mechanisms of a high-speed mutli-barrel gattler. If you want to design a pair of legs, bipedal, quad or whatever, look at a skeletal chart of animals. See how the joints are assembled and how muscles are required to pull in what direction and how. It is the same with any joint in my mind. If you want an alternate form of construction, something that has never been done biologically, then it is only a little more interesting. Then you get to take the basic kinds of joints, there are only three naturally occurring (that I know of) and extrapolate a system that is functional for what you need.

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Medabots Anatomy 101

Lesson 6 of (?) weapons systems. Slice, Dice and Pierce.

Everybody, at least that I know, loves swords. Shiny sharp and deadly. Weather fancy and tailored to sit on a shelf or functional to a razored edge that can separate skin from muscle without pain. And with that statement we come to the futile point about blades and medabots.

Medabots don't have flesh, none at all, and those medabots that use extremely thin metal armor or even those with cloth are not combat models or are meant to be kept from the heat of battle. Simply put a simple cutting edge isn't that good against the armor of a medabot.

A blade would have to delve deeper than the initial armor layer to reach components where a sword could do harm. Flesh easily separates when cut, metal resists, and so the same blade that would gut a human would be lucky to draw oil from a medabot.

To correct for this most medabot blades are sharper, thinner and often have a thinner width on their back edge, minutely so, than the cutting edge. This allows for the blade to slice through with less resistance and has less likelihood of becoming stuck. The problem of reaching components to damage still hasn't been resolved however.

As always the more vital the component the deeper and more heavily protected it is. For a knife or blade to reach that component, rather than spend vital time scraping and chipping armor away, most all blades have a chisel shaped tip or some form of extreme wedge that can be driven deeply in a stab or with a thrust mid slash to increase the depth after the initial entry. Of course that isn't slashing, that would be stabbing. In any event most medabot blades have both a sharp edge and a piercing tip.

As to the construction of said blades… well I have heard many methods for forging human swords, personally I like the highland forging method for its practicality, but as human swords serve little good against metal, with very few exceptions, most methods are futile. As to what forging methods would develop blades most suitable for medabots I would advise one to study japans sword lore. Japanese blades are irrefutably superior to any other I have encountered when cutting steel and surviving with minimal or no harm.

But considering that any method of forging a sword takes time and a good deal of effort and decent metals I wager that most medabot blades are anything but forged. This leaves us with blades molded, stamped and just shaped from a peace of metal.

Molded blades are simply a mold, made of anything really but temperature treated ceramic is good if you can find or make it in the right shape and I find wood (good for only one use and not the best for larger blades) easier to shape, filled with liquid metal and allowed to cool before being removed and trimmed of rough edges, and treated/ polished. Molded blades are most commonly made or iron or poorer grades of steel as the melting points for purer metals are higher than the mold can usually take.

Stamped blades are done on factory conveyor belts and are just punched from sheets of metal before being trimmed, giving a revised shaping and sharpened (its been a while but I believe this part is still done by people) before being treated and sent to be packaged or shipped or whatever is done with them before they turn up in stories or whatever. Stamped blades are like your steak knife or, unless I am greatly mistaken, certain combat knifes not to mention almost any pocket knife blade.

Seeing as we have been going down the list in regards of difficulty in making blades its only fitting that shaped metal is last. Shaped metal is quite simply a peace of metal ground or shaved till it reaches the desired form and shape. Rarely will a shaped blade be heavily treated as it is too rough to resist rust in any event and methods of removing rust usually scrubbing with large quantities of sand, possibly oiled. I make shaped blades from rebar, cross girders, or if available old railroad tracks. Metal for making a shaped blade is readily available no matter where you live if you open your eyes. Look at rail yards for broken equipment, or at the trash/rubbish bins near construction yards. My favorite place for gathering any metal is junkyards or scrap yards.

So know that you have a blade, no mater how it was made, it needs to be mounted. Your chooses are either placing it directly on the medabot or to mount it on a handle. Mounting a blade on a handle is simple enough in thought but not without its difficulties. In the shaping of your blade, whatever method you used, you should have left a long empty stretch of metal near the base. This is called the tang and is what connects the blade to the hilt. Multiple forms of tang exist but because of the delicacy involved in the other forms I will only cover full tangs.

Your grip, made of whatever you chouse, should fit the hand of its intended user but needs to be proportional to the size of the blade at least. The length of the tang should be a little longer than the grip so you can mount a pommel, if not than it is not a full tang and you will have to find other mounting types. Now the tang can be trimmed a bit so that the front edge of the blade hangs out over it or so the back does, I don't advise trimming it more than half the blades size as the more removed reduces the strength of where the tang meets blade. If your grip is as big around as the tang you can split the grip and simply place the tang between them. It isn't done yet however. After making sure the slit grip fits flush against the tang, that is hopefully flat, you can either drill holes in the tang for mounting pins or you can put file markings on the tang, make it so the tang could be used as a wood file, so that it bites and holds the grip and then drill your holes for mounting pins. The holes for mounting pins should just be wide enough for your pins to fit through them snugly. the mounting pins are simply little metal pins drawn through the drill holes of both grip and tang and secured by whapping with a hammer, as the other side rests on an anvil or other hard surface, so the pin ends are flattened just in the wood surface. I also rap thin bands of some malleable metal over each pin to insure its sound, a little pre-work on the grip insures that each band has a recessed notch it just fits in and makes flush with the rest of the grip.

If the tang edges are not flush with the grip edges you don't have to split it but if you do you will have to carve out the tang area, half the tang width from both sides, so that it will rest nestled in the wood. Rather than splitting the grip you can use a drill, I hated shop class and spent little time there so if you have a better tool for what I'm doing let me know, to make a slot in the wood that fits the tang's width and length. This means taking the drill or using a drill press to drill into the top or bottom of the hilt, where the blade will leave, the size of the drill bit used should not exceed the width of the tang. In this method however if you file mark the tang the marks should only grab when trying to draw the tang out of the grip. If the file marks grab while entering it will tear the wood and ruin the effect they would have in holding the tang in. the mounting pins are done here the same as before.

The numbers of mounting pins are proportionate to the size of the knife or sword. Any knife or blade should have at least two, any blade exciding five inches should have three, after that however is up to whatever the maker feels will hold it soundly without detracting from the tangs structure. Mounting pins are always placed through the center of the tang and should not be within two centimeters of one another. Mounting pins need be least an inch or inch and a half from the beginning of the blade and half and inch from the pommel. If you should make a great sword or something with a two handed grip, or two and a half, I would advise four pins.

Guards and pommels are optional on any blade but should you decide to want one it requires a bit of stepping back. A pommel is simply a cap placed at the back of the grip and that attaches to the tang by ways of a small metal strip that enters the grip next to the tang and shares the last mounting pin. However there are other versions that are larger and balled or shaped in some form or another, theses as fitted to fit the grip and mounted on the tang with another pin. Guards are not so simple, they are, predominately, simply so that when shifting your grip on a blade you don't grip the blade when focused elsewhere. Your guard is shaped however you will and will go down under the grip with the rest of the blade so that the first mounting pin holds it as well. So for example I have a square guard, it has two, or one, long thin peaces that lay flush with the sides of the tang before I attach the grip the guard should be justly sound with the front of the grip. A cap peace, like the simple pomle I mentioned, can also be placed on the front of the grip underneath the guard.

There you go now you have a blade, give it to your medabot or keep it yourself. If you want a sheath… well for that you should go ask someone good at woodshop or leather working. Now lets move on to mounting a blade directly onto your medabot.

Just as when we where mounting a club on your medabot an issue is structure and the damage that could occur when striking. However we also have other options present when speaking of blades and robotics. And while those two shouldn't, at first thought, bother one another they do in many instances. For one if the blade was simply mounted onto the medabots inner framework with the proper impact dampeners the blade loses a good deal of the mobility it had while on a grip in the medabot's hands.

And so we can seek out ways of making that blade mobile, to some degree or another, but we must still be cautious as to the return damage caused by impacts. Lets look first at retractable blades.

Simply put a retractable blade is drawn inward into the arm of the medabot in question. However, there are two methods of this. The first is by having a built in sheath that is where the blade retracts into, with room for the stop block that prevent the incidental loss of the blade upon extending, and a set of guiding tracks mounted to the arm the same way a kinetic punch might be. The retraction method is a small motorized gear that catches the tang, and the matching teeth engraved there, and a depressed spring with a catch mechanism that keeps it depressed until such time as the medabot wants to extend the blade once again. The spring is released and the gear is in neutral so the blade is shot forward to where the stop block, either a flared area where the tang and blade meet or simply a crossing bar affixed to the tang, draws short on a rubber stopper and a simple catch stops down on the stop block until the larger clamps built in along the guiding tracks can lock down on the blade's tang. This assembly is a bit frail however and is prone to losing blades as the stop block wears down. And often enough the clamps are unable to securely hold the blade during violent thrusts.

The other method for a retractable blade is simpler. The blade is firmly affixed to its mounting system and properly dampened, however the mounting system is placed on a set of tracks with several small motors to draw it back or forward with several small and medium clamps that can lock down on the tracks at any point. This system is slower and makes nose, only slight, if improperly oiled or maintained. This method is very strong against impacts, as not only is the blade mounted in impact dampeners the tracks are often placed atop rubber or silicate pads. This method involves more room than its counterpart however and is just as demanding about its maintenance.

Another way of improving upon the basic mounting system is a snap mount. This is where the blade is either stored with the blade drawn back on a pivot or hinge or able to be drawn back and released for battle or during battle so that the blade snaps up into a battle position. Again there are two methods towards this, some might say more but the others they mean aren't snap mounts and will be covered latter.

Now as towards the snap mount I mentioned that isn't meant for combat use. This mount is just for storing the blade when not in a fight, as such when in the action of deploying the blade or storing it is susceptible to damage. The snap mount is just a strong, very strong, joint with a good pivot attached to the arm of the medabot, through the usual damage suppressing mounts, and the tang of the blade. Again cached springs are a method of deployment where a spring will be released to 'kick' the blade up into its ready position where clamps catch across the tang and hold the blade. For the non-battle snap mount there isn't necessarily a motorized means of storing the blade, the medabot would simply release the clamps and press the blade back to it position or a smaller spring against the hinge witch close the blade back like it was a mouse trap. However if the blade is stored mechanically it is often by the same method by with it was deployed.

A note on blade positioning. Combat snap mounts always have the blade's edge directed towards the direction of release. However that doesn't mean that a non-battle mount cant have their blade edge pointed in the direction of blade deployment. Non-battle mounts enjoy the luxury of having blades that open with the flat leading. While not considered much for anything it isn't often that the medabot with such a flat mounted snap mount hasn't used, or thought of using, it to slap some sense into someone.

A battle capable snap mount differs little in motion than its non-battle cousin. The difference between them is entirely in the motorization. A BSM will not use springs but rather has two options of deployment/ motion control. The first is a gear mounted directly onto the hinge for movement and the clamps for stopping clamp down on this or another round plate affixed to the other side of the hinge. The gear is attached to a high-speed transmission box before encountering at least one motor. A medabot with this gear function has the ability to use its blade in any degree of deployment. A problem with this system is that it has only the barest of impact resistance, often only a thin layer of padding between the systems structures and the frame of the medabot.

The other option for BSM is to use thicker padding between the structures and medabot frame and to replace the transmission box with a belt system. In this way the medabot surrenders speed and the ability to move its blade against strong outside resistance so it can strike harder without suffering serious damage from its own hit. Some NBSM, non-battle snap mounts, also use a belt system. The way of telling them apart from the BSM is the clamping system involved, BSMs clamp down on the hinge or a wheel connected to the hinge. NBSMs clamp down on the tang of the blade and only when the blade is fully extended or stored.

The external armor and casings for SMs are varied and differing from medabot to medabot in not only appearance, shape and deployment but also how the blade is deployed. The exterior casing of a SM has either an open section or a double-hinged cover through witch the blade passes. There are few rules about where or how a SM can be mounted and generally it can be put anywhere that the components can be fitted. Some popular units that have SMs are Mantis' and any transforming KWG.

Now as to those people I mentioned who said there are other forms of switch mounts, the devices to witch they are referring are very similar to switch mounts in motion and use but are more akin to saws in workings.

The device in question isn't meant for solid strikes; rather it is meant for high-speed slashes or on some units a rapidly repeating strike. There is no hinge in this device but otherwise is no different from a switch mount with a high-speed transmission. The tang of the blade is attached directly to a wheel and the wheel's axle mounting is what is placed on impact dispersing pads before attachment to the medabots frame. Now the real differences for this device is that it requires a double-edged blade or some form of twist capability in the arms structure, if mounted on an arm. The device is meant explicitly for the slashing such a rapid deployment would bring and its use as a stabbing weapon is limited as it has barely any impact absorption. Thus it needs to be able to slash not only while deploying but also upon retuning to starting position and any location between. This weapon device has no claps except those for a resting, outside of battle, position.

The same device that I just mentioned has a slight alteration, not in the device itself but how it is used in conjunction with the medabots frame. If the frame and armor of the medabot where opened in gaps, or those double hinged flaps used in switch mounts, with appropriate gaps inside the arm the medabot could 'rev' up the speed on the blade, or blades in this instance, and have a buzz saw effect that could rapidly strip armor from an opponent or riddle it unstable as the blade/s continue spinning in one direction without slowing. No medabot has this version of this device that I am aware of.

What other modifications can be done to a medabot-mounted blade? Well so far we have covered ones that move the blades in sweeps, now lets cover ones a little less mobile.

The first modification we will speak of is like the last and is of my own tinkering thoughts. The twist, and I don't mean the dance either. The twist is where the tang of the blade has been mounted inside a cylinder; behind this cylinder is a lightly padded impact plate that is further padded before encountering the medabots frame. This is so thrusts with the weapon are still as potent as a fixed blade. The difference is where the cylinder is held in place in a rotate able set of bearing tracks. At least two of these bearing, twisting, tracks must be on the cylinders and heavily greased, but more tracks will mean a firmer structure for the cylinder. The bearing tracks, rounded tracks holding greased ball bearings, are affixed into a strong hexagonal, or other, surrounding framing before being affixed to the medabots frame. The blade is now identical to any fixed blade but not finished. A gear ring should be placed around the center of the cylinder and a drive chain ran to the stout motor affixed to the outer structure of the hexagonal frame.

Now a rule of thumb with the twist is that the blade has to be a strong thick blade, otherwise the twist can't be used as primarily intended. It can still be used to change the blade position while fighting of course and open up a new range of swings that will strike with the edge but it will no longer be capable of stabbing and twisting without a risk of breaking off the blade of the knife. That is what the twist is meant for. To be stabbed deep into a medapart and twisted, wrenching open a small hole in the armor and further damaging the structure or component underneath than a normal stabbing would.

Now the twist can use other weapons than a knife but it wouldn't classify as a knife then or be as good at slashing then. Drill bits, bladed spirals, spike sided rods, they are all useable with the twist and rely on its spin for their damage. The knife or sword mounted on the twist is not meant to spin in a full circle after stabbing however. The knife twist is just a quarter turn after stabbing; any more might damage the knife blade or the twists components. Given some time I might devise a simple way of making switch able weapons for the twist but at this time all those that I have tried are either very difficult to change or not firm enough and get left in the target.

I could, if I forced myself, think of other sword or blade based systems that could be used but from this point onward they would start getting odd or weird with less practicality. So considering it is now rather late, while I'm finishing the initial draft of this, I'll hang up this chapter/lesson.

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Not my best word work today but I have been distracted. Next lesson about guns or misc. weapons, or I could end up on a totally different tangent.


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